help with a couple question on mac/osx: kerning on the mac & USB probe

specialk420 — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 22:28:00 -0800

A couple questions about Mac and OSX: 1) does anyone know of an alternative to USB Prober alegedly included with the Apple SDK - to help the OS see some USB devices (see inside)? 2) why is the kerning/tracking on much of the default system software - often sketchy? I ended making a move on a macbook pro in response to this thread as current sad state of offerings in widescreen pc laptops (crappy bios, horrible form factors, even worse tech support)

Overall I am very happy with the move which I'll blog about in detail soon - but... my macbook won't see my USB mp3 player (essentially a USB drive), and I must say I am disappointed with frequently poor display of type onscreen (in firefox, entourage, photoshop, and other apps)... curious if the smart minds here have recommendations on either of the above?

Getting used to the oddly placed command key again is adventure as well... oh and - is it just me? or is firefox substantially slower on OSX than XP?

overall I am very impressed and quite sure I won't notice the couple warts soon.

How do I kern?

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Oct 2005 09:47:00 -0800

I need help understanding the concept of kerning fonts. Is there a formula to it, or is it really what looks "best"? I've read a few things on the web about it, including Wikipedia's entry on the subject. But when I try kerning, it just seems arbitrary. Is that just the nature of the process? As an example, would it be safe to say that this is not kerned well and the V and A should be closer; perhaps actually overlapping? (Finding this image is what got me thinking about my own lack of kerning skills and hence the question.)

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help with a couple question on mac/osx: kerning on the mac & USB probe

How do I kern?